Nothing can be compared with IT in terms of the influence on the world. IT has changed our world, and the change is still going on. IT has changed the way geological work is done as well as the way to communicate with geoinformation. The combination of IT and geoinformation work has played a vital role in promoting the social and economic development. On October 29-30, CGI-IUGS Council Annual Meeting was held in Beijing for discussions and exchanges on OneGeology China construction, geoinformation technology development and data sharing. Visiting CGI Council Members included Chairman and Acting Treasure of CGI Council Dr. François Robida (France), Secretary General of CGI Council Dr. Kristine Asch (Germany), Senior Information Geologist Dr. Ollie Raymond (Australia), and Chief Scientist Dr. Kazuhiro Miyazaki (Japan). As an official member of CGI Council from China, researcher from Development & Research Center of China Geological Survey (DRC of CGS) Dr. Zhang Minghua participated the meeting and organized the meeting with honor this time.

Chief Scientist from DRC of CGS Dr. Tan Yongjie extended his warm welcome to all the foreign participants for their visiting. He stated that with the help of CGI Council, OneGeology China has made great achievements during the past year, and was awarded the second prize for State Technology of Geographical Information Science. And he believes more achievements will be made in the future as the cooperation deepens.

Experts from China Geological Survey on geoinformation gave brief introductions of the work they’ve done in recent years, covering topics on geoinformation, OneGeology China, Geo3DML and Digital Intelligent System. Focused on Spatial Geological Database Development, so far CGS has built more than 50 spatial databases under the program Digital Land since 1999 by 30 provinces under the leadership of DRC of CGS with multiple data formats including ArcGIS, MapGIS and MapInfo and based on MS Access, MS SQL server and Oracle. National databases built and being developed range from geological maps, geophysical and geochemical survey, hydrogeology investigation data, mineral resource assessment and exploration, marine geology, etc. to digital geological archives. CGS has also made progress in data development software, including the development and application of RGIS, GEOEXPL, GeoMIDS and MARS. The systems involved have been employed in multiple phases and disciplines for national geological work by geological survey agencies at provincial level, regional centers of CGS and some universities and academies.

“Geological Cloud” was brought up as the goal of geoinformation construction of CGS in the future. DRC of CGS has been engaged in the formulation and application of data exchange format standard of 3D geological model Geo3DML, which will play an important role in supporting 3D geological survey and mineral prospecting in deep part of the earth. The development of digital geological survey system for recent years has been focusing on the progress to become much smarter. Digital intelligent system has been widely promoted across China, and introduced and applied by countries abroad.

CGI Council members briefed in succession the participants on INSPIRE, GIRAF, GEOSCIML, the mission of and achievements made by CGI. The two parties conducted heated discussions and exchanges. Chinese experts answered questions raised by foreign experts in terms of technology and financial issues. The latter highly praised the achievements made by OneGeology China within such short period and congratulated the Chinese experts on the launch of English version of OneGeology China.